Cigarette smoking: Should it be prohibited?

This essay discusses the harmful effects of smoking, including increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and cancer. It also evaluates the benefits of smoking and why it should be prohibited. The essay concludes that stopping smoking has numerous positive impacts on health.

Cigarette smoking Should it
be prohibited

INTRODUCTION
This essay will discuss the harmful effects that are linked to smoking. The essay will
evaluate the drawbacks and benefits of smoking and based on the evaluation why smoking
should be prohibited will be discussed. Positive impacts of stopping smoking will also be
analysed.
Harmful effects of cigarette smoking
There are numerous harmful effects of smoking on human body. It puts person in a good
mood for a short time period but cigarette smoking commonly creates dependence over it.
Anxiety and irritability are the withdrawal side effects of smoking that becomes a challenging
task to manage. Cigarettes contain nicotine which if consumed on a regular basis becomes
addictive. When one decides to prohibit smoking nicotine withdrawal cause anxiety and
irritability in the body. In the views of Cheng and et.al., (2018) nicotine causes tightening of
blood vessels, this restricts blood flow causing high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack risks.
Reduction of blood flow reduces the nutrition delivered to the skin. This makes skin dry resulting
in premature ageing.
Tobacco smoke while smoking sticks to clothes and hair of the smoker and also people
around them this results in smelly clothes and hair. Long term smoking creates yellowish and
brownish stains on the teeth of smoker. Risk of infections leading to tooth and bone loss and
bronchitis are higher in the person who smokes. Children are more prone to bronchitis. In the
opinion of Szyfter and et.al., (2019) problems like tuberculosis and pneumonia are exacerbated
through smoking. Smoking damages airways that contributes to persistent coughing or smoker's
cough. Various diseases related to related to heart propagate when smoking becomes a lifestyle
habit of a person.
Higher heart attacks risk is present in both the smoker and persons around them. Tobacco
smoke is responsible for increasing bad cholesterol and decreasing good cholesterol (What are
the health risks of smoking?, 2021). Total cholesterol is also raised. Smoking weakens immune
system of the body. Eye problems such as macular degeneration and cataracts are caused by
smoking. Sense of smell and taste gets dull by smoking. This results in decrease of appetite
making eating less enjoyable. One of the major side effect of smoking is very high risk of lung
cancer development.

Handling tobacco products results in yellowing of fingers and fingernails. Smoking cause
short or long term infertility issues in both men and women. Smokers face more progressive type
2 diabetes because smoking increases more of insulin resistance in the body. Existing patients of
diabetes if smoke faces various other problems related to kidney, eyes and heart.
Smoking is also a cause behind blood clotting in entire body. Smoking develops chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma symptoms worsen. 80 percent COPD cases are
caused due to smoking. In women risk of cervical cancer increases. Cancers related to smoking
can be caused anywhere in the body for example, mouth, throat, bladder and kidney cancer.
Benefits of cigarette smoking
Smoking decreases the risk of uterine fibroid and endometriosis in women. According to
Schilling and et.al., (2019) it also has protective effects on hypertensive disorders and vomiting
during pregnancy. There is significant association of smoking with decreased risk of endometrial
cancer. Fatality after myocardial infarction and venous thrombosis also have inverse associations
with smoking. According to Covington and Omelich (2019) Recurrent aphthous ulcers,
ulcerative colitis, and control of body weight are the other benefits of smoking. Nicotine present
in cigarettes reduces the risk of Parkinson's disease. Three main benefits of smoking are anti-
estrogenic effect, alterations in prostaglandin production and stimulation of nicotinic cholinergic
receptors in the central nervous system.
Effects of prohibition of cigarette smoking
Within 9 months of giving up of smoking 10% improvement is there in the capacity of
lungs that makes one to have more ease in breath with less cough. In short term adverse effects
of smoking on lungs are not clearly visible until some physical activities are done by the smoker
but the lung capacity diminishes naturally in long term. Blood circulation increases within 2 to
12 weeks of quitting smoking, making physical activities like running or climbing stairs easy.
Immune also starts improving making it easier to fight against cold and flu. Stopping smoking
increases oxygen levels in the body that reduce tiredness and frequent headaches. Stopping
smoking withdraws nicotine that vanishes the feelings of stress. There are scientific studies that
have proven that giving up smoking lowers the level of stress in people.
According to Soneji and Beltrán-Sánchez, (2019) fertility in both males and females
increases after quitting smoking. Improves sense of smell and taste: Giving up smoking boosts
the sense of smell and taste. This increases the appetite and enables to enjoy food more. Stop on

smoking is beneficial for skin. It slower down facial ageing and also appearance of wrinkles get
delayed. Skin gets more of nutrients, oxygen making it healthy. Staining of teeth get cured and
breath become fresh. Gum diseases and premature loss of teeth gets avoided. Longer life: Long
term smokers die of heart diseases, lung cancer and chronic bronchitis. Stopping smoking adds
years to a person's life.In the opinion of Shepherd and et.al., (2019) by giving up on smoking
smokers save and protect the health of non-smokers around them. Living with smokers increases
the risk of chest illness, pneumonia, ear infections and asthma in children.
CONCLUSION
Based on the above essay meaning of smoking and cigarette have been made clear.
Through the report the varied harmful effects associated with smoking have been listed. The
report also highlighted the benefits associated with smoking. All the harmful effects and benefits
of cigarette smoking have been included in the essay. Based on the essay it can be concluded that
prohibition of smoking must be done in order to have a healthy life. Various benefits that are
linked with the prohibition of smoking have been discussed in this essay.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Cheng, W. H. and et.al., 2018. Cigarette smoking causes a worse long‐term outcome in persistent
atrial fibrillation following catheter ablation. Journal of Cardiovascular
Electrophysiology. 29(5). pp.699-706.
Covington, M. V. and Omelich, C. L., 2019. Perceived costs and benefits of cigarette smoking
among adolescents: need instrumentality, self-anger, and anxiety factors. In Anxiety:
Recent developments in cognitive, psychophysiological, and health research (pp. 245-
262). Taylor & Francis.
Schilling, L. and et.al., 2019. Perceived threats, benefits and barriers of e-cigarette use during
pregnancy. A qualitative analysis of risk perception within existing threads in online
discussion forums. Midwifery, 79, p.102533.
Shepherd, L. and et.al., 2019. Cessation of cigarette smoking and the impact on cancer incidence
in HIV-positive persons: The D: A: D Study. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 68(4).
pp.650-657.
Soneji, S. and Beltrán-Sánchez, H., 2019. Association of maternal cigarette smoking and
smoking cessation with preterm birth. JAMA network open. 2(4). pp.e192514-e192514.
Szyfter, K. and et.al., 2019. Molecular and health effects in the upper respiratory tract associated
with tobacco smoking other than cigarettes. International journal of cancer. 144(11).
pp.2635-2643.
Online
What are the health risks of smoking?, 2021 [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/what-are-the-health-risks-of-
smoking/>
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